Woman gets 9 years for attempted murder

Friday

Sep 8, 2017 at 6:05 PMSep 8, 2017 at 6:05 PM

The couple’s 3- and 4-year-old children told authorities they were present at 9211 Owenwood Road on Feb. 20, 2016, while the Powells hit, kicked and struck Marie Rachel Foxworthy with a blunt object. One of the children said his mother had a piece of a gate from the property at the time of the attack and his father was stomping Foxworthy’s head as she was lying on the ground, officers reported.

ZACK McDONALD News Herald Reporter @PCNHzack

PANAMA CITY — A pair of Bay County parents have now both been sentenced for a near fatal beating of a woman at her Fountain home that preceded the brutal beating and stabbing death of her roommate, according to court records.

Tiffany Powell, 28, pleaded no contest Friday to attempted second-degree murder for the February 2016 near-fatal beating of 43-year-old Marie Rachel Foxworthy. Powell and her husband, 32-year-old Christopher Powell, carried out the attack as their two small children watched; and Christopher Powell then went on to beat 59-year-old Carla Maria Hight to death with a baseball bat. Tiffany Powell was sentenced to nine years in prison as Christopher Powell serves a life sentence for first-degree murder, court records stated.

While charges of child abuse against the Powells were consolidated by the State Attorney’s Office in the months following the attacks, their children have been committed to foster care since the couple lost their parental rights, court records state. One child also had to be prescribed medication after assessments about the behavioral effects from the incident.

According to official reports, the 3- and 4-year-old children told authorities they were present at 9211 Owenwood Road on Feb. 20, 2016, while the Powells hit, kicked and struck Foxworthy with a blunt object. One of the children said his mother had a piece of a gate from the property at the time of the attack and his father was stomping Foxworthy’s head as she was lying on the ground, officers reported.

“The young child stated there was blood all over the victim and they were stating, ‘Stop stomping me,’ ” officers quoted the child as saying. “... The child stood up out of the chair and stomped the ground with his shoe and stated that is what his father was doing.”

After Sarah Christine Stewart, 33, drove the children away from the house, Christopher Powell and 31-year-old Justin McCallihan attacked Hight with a bat and knife.

Foxworthy retreated to a bedroom after the attack. There, she could hear Hight being attacked and pleading for her life. After overhearing someone say “go finish her off,” Foxworthy jumped out a window to seek shelter in the woods, where she collapsed and fell unconscious, she told investigators.

As the group fled Fountain, authorities arrived to find Foxworthy near death at a neighboring home and Hight deceased in her living room.

During Christopher Powell’s trial in the case, McCallihan and Stewart testified the incident started as a days-long drug binge. The Powells started by attacking Foxworthy in front of their children over a missing cellphone and set of keys to their truck. After the attack, Christopher Powell and McCallihan went after Hight when she threatened to call police and demanded they take Foxworthy to a hospital.

In the aftermath of the discovery of the scene, BCSO began a manhunt for the group, which culminated in a 140 mph pursuit along State 2 in Jackson County with Christopher Powell behind the wheel. The group evaded law enforcement overnight. McCallihan and Stewart were arrested the next day and the Powells, children in tow, were spotted that morning walking along the side of U.S. 231 in Alabama and arrested.

McCallihan testified in exchange for 45 years in prison for second-degree murder. It’s currently unclear what punishment Stewart could receive for her testimony. She is scheduled to return to court Monday.

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